Administering a Winthrop-Affiliated Social Media Site

 

Winthrop University encourages the use of social media to help deliver our messages effectively to a variety of audiences. To achieve this, each department or university unit should have a plan for maintaining its chosen social media platforms.

All institutional pages must have a full-time person (not temporary positions and/or student workers) designated as the administrator(s) for social media. Departments and units should consider their messages, audiences, and goals when designing social media sites, as well as a strategy for keeping information on these sites up-to-date.

 

Winthrop University employees who supervise official Winthrop social media sites should:

• Identify a responsible individual to maintain the site. This person should have log-in credentials assigned with a winthrop.edu email address. No personal email addresses should be used. 
• Identify at least one other person within the office, department, or division as a "back-up." This person should also be provided log-in credentials and also use a Winthrop email address. This person can edit posts or handle maintaining the site either in tandem with the primary account holder or when the primary account holder is unavailable.
• Check your platforms at least twice a day for notifications, pertinent messages, and more. Respond in a timely manner. If you're unsure of a response, including if one is even needed, discuss with your supervisor or contact the social media manager for advice. 
• Ensure all photos and graphics are in compliance with current university branding. Any item featuring a Winthrop logo should have previously been vetted by either the director of marketing or director of printing services. 
• For graphics, official university colors can be found via our Visual Identity Manual.
• Ensure photos, graphics, PDFS, etc., meet the government's new accessibility requirements. Link TBD.
• Remember that your site is a representative of Winthrop University, and therefore should follow university stances.
• Register your site with the Winthrop Social Media Directory so potential users can find it quickly. Register an official Winthrop site. This information also helps the university disseminate important information to the administrators of sites, as well as ensuring that sites do not become "orphaned" when a site administrator leaves Winthrop.
• Don't remove content or take a page offline unless there is a specific violation of Winthrop policies or your published rules warranting removal.